Analysing of relationship between values and ethical consumption behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between values and ethical behavior of university students. In line with this aim, it was determined whether there was a statistically significant difference between the socio demographic variables of the university students (sex, age, education class, education level of their parents, perceived family income level) and ethical consumption behaviors. Then, the relationship between the value orientations of university students and ethical consumption behaviors was examined. The sample of the research consisted of 400 university students, 211 female and 189 male. The Consumer Ethics Scale, the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the Personal Information Form were used as data collection tools in the study. The data obtained were analyzed using Correlation, Independent Sampling Test, One-way ANOVA, Multidimensional Scale Analysis (MDS), Levene Test, Bonferroni Test, Tamhane's T2 Test. As a result of the statistical analysis, there was no statistically significant difference between ethic consumption behaviors according to gender, age, education level of mother, perceived family income level of university students participating in the study (p> .05). There was a statistically significant difference (p<.001) between the sub-dimension of "active use of illegal situation" according to the place where university students live. According to the education status of the university students' fathers, statistically significant differences were found between the consumer ethics scale (p<.001), the subscale of "activelly benefiting from an illegal situation" (p<.001) and the subscale of "no harm no foul" (p <.01) significant difference was observed. A statistically significant relationship was found between the value priorities of university students and ethical consumption behaviors (p<.001). There is no statistically significant relationship between face, power-resources, hedonism, self-direction-behavior, universalism-nature values and ethical consumption behaviors of university students. There was no statistically significant relationship between face, power-resources, power-dominance, hedonism, universalism-nature values and the subscale of activelly benefiting from an illegal situation (p>.05). There was no statistically significant relation between the subscale of no harm no foul with respect to face, power-resources, achievement, self-direction-behavior, universalism-nature, benevolence-dependability, benevolence-caring and security-personal (p<.05). The findings were discussed in the light of the findings and suggestions about the individuals, families, institutions and organizations and the scales used in the research were given in the direction of the results. Keywords Ethical consumption, value, ethical consumption behavior, university students